Nonequilibrium quantum dynamics of atomic dark solitons

TL;DR

This paper investigates the quantum and thermal fluctuation effects on the dynamics, collisions, and core structure of atomic dark solitons in one-dimensional traps, revealing fluctuation-induced phenomena and core filling.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of quantum and thermal fluctuation impacts on dark soliton behavior, including dissipation, core filling, and collision dynamics, in both continuous and lattice systems.

Findings

Weak filling of soliton cores observed in single-shot runs

Stronger fluctuations lead to deeper solitons and more pronounced core filling

Optical lattice systems exhibit enhanced fluctuation-induced phenomena

Abstract

We study quantum dynamics of bosonic atoms that are excited to form a phase kink, or several kinks, by an imprinting potential in a one-dimensional trap. We calculate dissipation due to quantum and thermal fluctuations in soliton trajectories, collisions and the core structure. Single-shot runs show weak filling of a soliton core, typically deeper solitons in the case of stronger fluctuations and spreading/disappearing solitons due to collisions. We also analyze a soliton system in an optical lattice that shows especially strong fluctuation-induced phenomena.